Chesco man admits killing father over mistress

MEDIA COURTHOUSE — After more than five years of denying his involvement in his father’s death, a Chester County man on Thursday admitted he beat his father to death in the bedroom of the victim’s home nearly five years ago.

Parth Ingle of East Coventry entered an open guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter, a felony of the first degree, in the Jan. 20, 2008, death of 55-year-old Arunkumar Ingle. The victim’s widow, 53-year-old Bhavnaben Ingle, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit voluntary manslaughter, also a felony of the first degree.

Blaming his dead father for initiating the deadly attack, Parth Ingle told Judge Barry Dozor he was trying to fend off the older man, who had grabbed a baseball bat and began swinging it.

“At first I kneed him so he would get off of me. He had picked up a baseball bat he kept in the bedroom and he hit me on my right leg and right side,” said the hulking 6-foot2, 300-pound defendant.

After grabbing the bat from his father, Parth said he began swinging back in self-defense.

“I was terrified and I was in fear for my life ... I kinda snapped,” Parth Ingle said.

Assistant District Attorney Thomas Laurie angrily called Parth Ingle’s story “simply not credible.”

“It was truly a rage assault. (There were) repeated blows to Mr. Ingle’s head,” Laurie said. “For some reason, we have this story coming out at this time that Mr. Ingle was the assailant. That simply is not true.”

Arunkumar Ingle died of crushing, blunt-force head injuries associated with multiple stab wounds to the head and neck, according to the Delaware County Medical Examiner’s office. It was determined the elder Ingle was struck several times in the head with a blunt metal object. In addition, his testicles were severely bruised and he had numerous defensive wounds.

Authorities believe Arunkumar Ingle — whose mistress had previously testified about his plan to fake his death in his native India and then return to the United States to be with her — was killed over his infidelities, as well as for financial gain.

A Boeing engineer, the victim had a total of seven insurance policies worth more than $3.6 million, court documents state. All the policies named his wife and two children as beneficiaries. Court documents indicated that Parth Ingle and his wife were more than $300,000 in debt in January 2008.

Bhavnaben Ingle found her husband’s body inside their home on the afternoon of Jan. 21, 2008. She and her daughter, Avnee Ingle, had stopped at the house on their way to the family owned 7-Eleven franchise in Delaware. Though the couple resided at the home, Bhavnaben Ingle had contacted an attorney in an attempt to get a divorce one month before the deadly attack.

On Thursday afternoon, the defendants, wearing matching red jumpsuits, sat at the defense table, but did not acknowledge one another.

Parth Ingle’s defense attorney, John E. Kusturiss, told the court that his client went to his parents’ home on Jan. 20, 2008, “with good intentions” — to keep the dysfunctional family together.

“Unfortunately, that got way out of hand,” Kusturiss said. “There is no justification for what happened, Parth recognizes that. This was truly ... a crime of passion.”

The judge accepted Parth Ingle’s guilty plea, but not before tersely expressing criticism for the lengthy delay in his accepting responsibility for his actions.

“Your actions ... the brutal and repeated blows to your father killing him ... your delay in accepting responsibility for so long ... is deplorable, disgusting and utterly wrong,” Dozor told the defendant.

Both defendants were sentenced immediately after entering their pleas.

Parth Ingle, who was previously convicted of spying on his father, was sentenced to 33-66 months in a state prison with an enhancement for possessing a deadly weapon, followed by eight years of state probation. He has served 364 days of his sentence.

Dozor accepted Bhavnaben Ingle’s guilty plea negotiated by defense attorney Scott Galloway and Laurie, and sentenced her to 10-23 months and four years concurrent probation. Given credit for time served, she will be released on Friday. Galloway said Bhavnaben Ingle will live with her daughter-in-law Devika Ingle and the couple’s 13-month-old daughter.

“She is remorseful,” Galloway told the judge. “She still loved her husband and wished her family would get back together.”

The judge warned both mother and son that they are to have no contact with the victim’s mistress or her family.

Dozor also lauded investigators from Pennsylvania State Police Troop K in Media for their tenacious work on the case, in which more than 50 search warrants were issued and numerous motions filed. Dozor said the state police investigators’ professionalism and exhaustive attention to detail needed to be noted.

After the hearing, Laurie said the plea agreements were a reasonable resolution to a very difficult case.

“There was no smoking gun,” he said. “I’m satisfied we have a defendant who admitted to the killing of his father.”